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Subject: Re: Alpha chip

Author: Don Dailey

Date: 15:12:21 06/03/98

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On June 03, 1998 at 13:18:11, Tom Kerrigan wrote:

>>And what a wonderful chip it is.  It just blows away any pentium.
>
>Isn't "blows away" a little inappropriate?
>
>I mean, it isn't even 50% faster according to SPECint. I don't think it
>qualifies for "blows away" status.
>
>Bob, I don't know why you think the chip is wildly popular. Remember
>when DEC took out an entire page of the NY Times to announce that
>they've sold 10,000 Alphas? Intel sells a thousand TIMES as many
>processors in a single year. The Alpha isn't even popular when compared
>to Intel clone chips.
>
>Cheers,
>Tom

I just did an informal test on 4 systems to see the difference on
a 32 bit program.  So I'm not using a 64 bit program.

Machine tested          time  factor
---------------------  -----  ------
Think pad 133 pentium   87.1    1.0
Ultra sparc 167         46.1    1.9
300 MMX pentium         24.7    3.5
500 Alpha               14.6    6.0

"Blows away" could mean anything, so let's just talk
about the numbers.  I think these are good numbers.
Our 300 MMX is the fastest pentium we have, perhaps there
are faster pentium pro's around right now but there are
also faster Alphas.
This is fast enough to give any chess program a very big
edge.

The Alpha's are not the only game in town.  Intel has
always been
3rd or 4th place but may be catching up now.  I think
the top HP's and SGI's are still faster too, but don't
quote me.  Intel's game is mass market, not performance.
They have to be fast to compete though and must stay
within about 2 to 1 or too many will look elsewhere.

- Don





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